Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Circuit de Catalunya, 2018

Vettel has “meltdowns” when races don’t go to plan – Webber

2018 F1 season

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Sebastian Vettel’s former team mate Mark Webber says the Formula 1 world championship leader is prone to cracking in uncertain race situations.

Webber said high-profile errors by Vettel such as at Azerbaijan in 2017, when he drove into Lewis Hamilton’s car during a Safety Car period, were examples of his “meltdowns”.

The pair were team mates at Red Bull from 2009 until Webber’s retirement at the end of 2013. Vettel “had flashes of a meltdown” at times, Webber told the official F1 podcast.

“Sebastian has had those and does have those. I think he has a plan and often these meltdowns are outside our normal routine of a grand prix. So: Safety Cars.”

“Abu Dhabi [in 2012] he’s been off behind the Safety Car, hitting DRS boards,” Webber added. “We saw Azerbaijan.

“So it’s amazing how he has this maximum intense focus and concentration that he can do. Winning off pole off the front, breaking the DRS, that was his signature punch. He was deadly with that. But as soon as there was another complication that became a little more tricky…”

Vettel made another such mistake when he collided with Webber during a Safety Car period in the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix. Webber, who was running in second place for Red Bull at the time, was hit from behind by Vettel, who was driving in his seventh F1 race with Toro Rosso.

“There was podium for sure, which was unheard of,” Webber recalled. “Red Bull and a Toro Rosso on the podium together, this was like, never been done before.”

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The pair were running behind race leader Hamilton at the time. “I pulled up beside Lewis in the last sector saying, mate, the gap to the Safety Car’s ginormous. I was looking at him saying come on, the lights are still on, it’s not like we’re doing a restart, we’re still under Safety Car and he was pulling a long way back and mucking around so I pulled up beside him.

Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Sepang, 2013
Why Webber’s greatest misfortune was to be Vettel’s team mate
“The next minute, boom. Behind the Safety Car [Vettel] just absolutely harpooned the back of me, Sebastian and I went out. I know Seb was bawling his eyes out after that, he was shattered.”

Vettel was originally given a 10-place grid penalty for the collision, which was subsequently reduced to a reprimand after the stewards examined new video of the crash filmed by a fan.

“Lewis was really at fault to a degree,” added Webber. “He was yo-yoing around. I think McLaren had some different brake material.

“It was a cold day, it was raining, it was a disgusting grand prix. I had food poisoning on the day, I was feeling pretty rough. We got through so much of the difficult part of the grand prix. All the aquaplaning. Fernando [Alonso] shunted which was rare. There was a lot of tricky moments throughout that race.”

Webber added Vettel also found it harder to perform at his best in qualifying when the team could not judge whether the tyres would produce their best on the first or second lap.

“He hated that. Hated that. Because it wasn’t bang, bang, German, what’s clear. It’s still a little bit open. Are the tyres ready on the first lap, maybe we’ll do two timed or one timed? He often hated that.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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89 comments on “Vettel has “meltdowns” when races don’t go to plan – Webber”

  1. Webber said high-profile errors by Vettel such as at Azerbaijan in 2017, when he drove into Lewis Hamilton’s car during a Safety Car period, were examples of his “meltdowns”.

    I’d have ranked his lunge in Azerbaijan in 2018 at the restart, and Singapore 2017 as better examples of cracking under pressure. Azerbaijan 2017 was just inexcusable and unsporting behavior, red mist, if you will.

    1. @phylyp

      Azerbaijan 2017 was just inexcusable and unsporting behavior, red mist, if you will

      Red mist, like a meltdown?

      This article is not about cracking under pressure, but about the inability to cope with change. Singapore 2017 may have been a meltdown: he didn’t expect to be overtaken by both Verstappen and Raikkonen at the start and he didn’t have a plan for that.

      1. Red mist, as in anger/rage. That led to road rage-like behaviour.

        To me, that wasn’t a sign of pressure, as the restart typically favours the leader, especially one as experienced as the likes of Hamilton, Vettel, etc. (add Bottas to that list, post Silverstone). So there was no reason for him to react in such a strong manner.

        The examples I gave were to illustrate cracking under pressure, as he panicked at the threat to his position.

    2. @phylyp I wouldn’t rank either one of those as “cracking under pressure”. Singapore wasn’t in any way an unusual move for polesitters. And in Azerbaijan it was probably his only chance to regain the lead and, as he explained, his view on his normal brake point marker was obstructed.

    3. @phylyp i understand baku 17 was bad. What i don’t understand is how people don’t get what was going on there and Act like Vettel just randomly lost it.
      So there was the first collision. Yes it was sebs fault, he even admitted it himself, but he thought he was braketested and You can see how it may have felt that way in this Moment. Next thing parts fly from his front wing. He can’t See it. He assumes it is gone. He will have to pit right After the sc and fall to dead last. While lewis now has an easy Win at his hands. In this Moment Seb thought that lewis had unsportingly provoked a massive Swing in the WDC which is Why he drove up to give him the Bird. Whether he was Than erratic or purposefully nudged lewis is anyones guess. Also people act like it was ramming lewis at full speed. Was it great? No. Was it dangerous? Definately not. Was it understandable from a Human perspective? Absolutely!

      1. @mrboerns I couldn’t agree more with you.

        1. Seb gets hot headed but a meltdown is something larger and out of control. So Mark has chosen the wrong word – which I think is poor of him. Still bitter IMO.

      2. Contact was almost 100% deliberate, you can see from the onboard the steering angle increases before contact. This was no “Oh he just forgot to straighten up” situation, he pulls out along side Lewis, straightens and then turns in to bang wheels.

        Was it dangerous? Definately not

        You just can’t say that. You know how long the Baku straight is and how fast the cars are going at the end of it. Certainly the collision itself was not going to injure anyone but it could have easily stressed the wrong part the wrong way and caused something like a tyre or suspension failure under load at the end of the straight. If that had happened and Lewis had sailed off into an escape road, or even worse, a barrier, that would have been entirely Vettel’s fault. That nothing bad actually happened does not mean the manoeuvre itself was not dangerous.

        1. This was no “Oh he just forgot to straighten up” situation

          @mrboerns Didn’t say otherwise

          You just can’t say that. You know how long the Baku straight is and how fast the cars are going at the end of it. Certainly the collision itself was not going to injure anyone but it could have easily stressed the wrong part the wrong way and caused something like a tyre or suspension failure under load at the end of the straight. If that had happened and Lewis had sailed off into an escape road, or even worse, a barrier, that would have been entirely Vettel’s fault. That nothing bad actually happened does not mean the manoeuvre itself was not dangerous.

          Thoough I would say that drivers don’t receive any action for more dangerous things…fair enough I don’t think I disagree there.

      3. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        19th July 2018, 12:16

        @mrboerns I don’t think people were surprised by Vettel in that race – we were surprised by the FIA’s delay to review the problem, the delay in issuing a penalty and the low severity of the punishment. This was every bit the same as Santino Ferucci’s crash and possibly worse since it happened under Safety Car in F1 and after a mistake by the driver and committed by a 4 time WDC champion, not some GP2 hothead.

        I talked at length about a race ban and multiple race bans (although we would have paid the price if that happened more than Vettel). It turns out that he should have received a multiple race ban at least according to the FIA.

        I have also talked at length that Vettel is at times extremely dangerous and in my opinion more dangerous than Max Verstappen. Vettel is very capable of getting a driver killed in an overtake or in defending a position. I assure you that if anyone asked him that question in an interview, he would not deny it.

        1. Say hi to the childlike empress for me will you?

          1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            19th July 2018, 15:23

            Yeah but labeling me as a child does not really contradict the statement. That was a 4 race ban incident from the FIA at minimum if you simply apply Santino’s penalty to Vettel which is banging wheels intentionally.

            Speaking of childish behavior, hitting a car under safety car twice and also doing it once intentionally, would probably have to qualify as the most childish behavior ever witnessed in Formula 1. I’m not the one defending that behavior but I was expressing my complete dismay at the FIA for failing to apply the proper disciplinary measures which they have unleashed upon Santino Ferrucci.

            He should have gotten a 10 second stop and go drive through penalty and he has grounds to go to a court and sue the FIA for intentionally destroying or causing harm to his career using Vettel’s collision under safety car as an argument.

          2. I’m not labeling you as a child i’m merely implying You live in Fantasia is all

          3. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            20th July 2018, 15:41

            @mrboerns ha-ha, I’m fine with that but let’s call it Fantasia 1 (F1 for short) – it’ll be the name of the new racing series when Disney merges with Liberty Media.

        2. @freelittlebirds th gift that keeps on giving. You are a truly remarkable mind. If I had the chance to meet any of you, you would be top of the list

          1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            19th July 2018, 15:26

            @johnmilk Thanks man!

            Just imagine a cross between Senna, Schumacher, and Fangio and you’d get the exact opposite picture of me!

        3. @freelittlebirds “It turns out that he should have received a multiple race ban at least according to the FIA.”

          Perhaps you could reference your source for this info. Googled it and couldn’t find anything from the FIA other than that they were satisfied with SV’s explanation and his apology.

          1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            19th July 2018, 21:31

            @Robbie I’m using Santino’s penalty as the basis. If the penalty was ridiculous Santino would have appealed and they would have changed it. It was the proper penalty according to the FIA and Vettel got away with it.

          2. @freelittlebirds Not buying it for a second. Two completely different circumstances, drivers, series. Not comparable. As evidenced by the FIA penalties in each case.

          3. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            20th July 2018, 11:54

            @Robbie really – different circumstances, drivers, and series? You make it sound as if Santino was riding a horse in the Kentucky Derby Race, not Formula 2.

          4. @freelittlebirds
            Ferucci failed to meet the stewards afterards, and had a number of other incidents through the weekend. Not comparable.

          5. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            20th July 2018, 15:34

            @simracer Failing to meet the stewards afterwards shouldn’t affect the severity of the penalty. He was simply deemed at fault in absentia. If the stewards did actually ban him because he failed to show up and he has a legitimate reason for not showing up, then they acted out of spite handing out an almost career-ending 4 race ban. I’m not defending Santino but the FIA will stick to the fact that the penalty was for the incident.

            Vettel didn’t meet the stewards during the race so they are actually very comparable in the sense that neither one of them had a meeting with the stewards.

            As for the number of incidents, Vettel had an incident a few seconds before he decided to bang Hamilton’s car. Again, that just makes them very comparable and as Webber is pointing out in this article Vettel is known for his meltdowns. It seems Santino might belong in the same “meltdown” category.

          6. @freelittlebirds
            Yeah, so it’s pretty clear you’re not being serious if you’re justifying your comment by saying “Vettel didn’t meet the stewards during the race”.

            Ferrucci refused to attend the stewards hearings after the race, Vettel obviously did.

            Ferrucci not only deliberately ran into his teammate after the race, but did so twice more during the race.

            Ferrucci was also caught driving the car while on his mobile phone.

            So it’s pretty clear that Ferrucci is in a different league, which is why such a severe penalty was warranted.

      4. Have to disagree with you here. What Vettel did was inexcusable, even if Lewis had intentionally brake checked him. Someone brake checks me on I-95, and I tap their car for it, cops will charge me with assault. Ridiculous to say that his actions weren’t dangerous as well. If those tires touch in the wrong way then one car could end up on top of the other. Seen plenty of weird low-speed accidents like that. On a whole it’s just wrong. Never in any sanctioned motorsport is it appropriate to use your car as a weapon.

        1. Yup I’m sure you have safety car restarts on the I-95.

          How do you begin to compare a public highway to a race track?

          1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            20th July 2018, 11:29

            @rockie I think most of us would hold F1 to a higher standard than driving on the highway… We’ve all been in that situation and in many cases with a lot more to lose than Vettel including our lives and the lives of young children. When you put Vettel’s reaction into perspective, it’s pretty absurd.

            So @knewman is 100% right to make that analogy. Imagine the lawsuit if the other driver could prove that you hit them intentionally. They’d literally take your socks and underwear from you.

      5. @mrboerns It was similar to what Santino Ferrucci. Deliberately using the car to ram someone. The difference was that Vettel was more careful not to break anything, but the act was the same. Ferrucci a young inexperienced driver got the boot. Sebastian doesn’t have the excuse of inexperience. I understand Ferrari/Sebastian fans want to minimize what happened because nobody got hurt. But that’s not really the point is it?

        1. @ajpennypacker first things first, not a vettel fan. 2nd- Ramming. That is a way hard word for what happenend imho. I still maintain it was at best a nudge. and i think i explained at lenght what extreme phsychicological stress situation may have led to thois nudge, be it intentional or a blunder. lastly, if we accept your premise of it being the same act as that f2 dude’s anyways, i still have to disagree. You know, Planes have certain parameters within which you can maneuvre them. Now, as you start aerobatic training, if you use the full envelope of a plane, any instructor will tell you that that is not the way to do it- but that is not because flying the plane in this area is wrong but because you as an ‘aprentice’ can’t handle it. However, if a competition pilot goes to the G-limit of a plane that is absolutely fine, becausehe’s spent a lot of time and energy figuring out how to do this and how to handle the machinery at the edge of its envelope- there is a parallel there- Vettel KNOWS how to nudge a college wheel to wheel without breaking either car in order to tell him he is being a ______. And that is NOT the same as some inexperienced prat bumbling around. Once again, yes, the whole situation was based on a misjudgement of vettel, but going on from this point it is absolutely understandable how things turned out/he acted from his point of view.

          1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            20th July 2018, 11:40

            @mrboerns You’re suggesting that the FIA gave Vettel a drive through penalty instead of a 4 race ban because he can maneuver better than Santino as he banged wheels with Hamilton to tell him that he was being a _____. He’s excused because of the stress and the fact that Santino is an inexperienced prat bumbling around.

            How does that sound to you when I write it? Name a driver who’s not under enormous stress on the grid. How is it understandable for the FIA to allow a deliberate accident caused by a drive under the safety car? Surely you know about Crashgate and the consequences.

        2. The post truth world, where people on the internet argue blindly about what they don’t fully understand.

          The penalty was not for just “ramming”, it was for a multitude of acts over the race weekend.

    4. You are forgetting Mexico 2017, 2016 , etc… all the races where he meltdowns and got away with penalties for actions unsuitable for a multiple “F1 World Champion” .

      1. @Chaitanya He’s been a bit of a diva when things don’t go his way… Some major like Mexico, Baku, Malaysia, other more minor. But those stopped in 2018. He’s finally calmed down and kept emotions in check. He’s made a lot of mistakes this year, but he hasn’t had a single meltdown and there were plenty of chances to do so.

      2. Mexico 2017? Do people still actually think that was deliberate… Wow.

        1. @hugh11 you wouldn’t believe what people actually think

  2. I hope Webber doesn’t become another Jaques Villeneuve.

    1. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
      19th July 2018, 8:14

      A current f1 driver, with more of a motor mouth and even worse taste in music is heading that way….

    2. He wont. He never won a WDC, even though he had a championship winning machine.

      1. @warheart
        If Villeneuve had Vettel as his teammate he wouldn’t have won a WDC either.

        1. Why because Vettel has faced so many great drivers in his career and come out on top?

          1. @carlosmedrano – Yes, and he has a far better record than Villeneuve in any case.

    3. @shimks
      I just hope he does. Jacques Villeneuve was most of the times spot on.

      1. @tifoso1989 That’s not the point with the people whining about Webber expressing his views. Some fans can’t stand any criticism of their favorite drivers. Nothing Webber said was controversial. Sebastian’s tantrums are well-known to everyone on the grid. That doesn’t detract from his talent, or minimizes his accomplishments. It simply highlights one of the few weaknesses he has as a driver. We could point those out in every driver on the grid.

      2. @tifoso1989 agreed. People don’t like JV because he says things people dont want to hear.

  3. “So it’s amazing how he has this maximum intense focus and concentration that he can do. Winning off pole off the front, breaking the DRS, that was his signature punch. He was deadly with that. But as soon as there was another complication that became a little more tricky…”

    I find it hard to pigeonhole most driver’s into an easily-classified state. And I have tended to stay away from doing so. So it’s amusing to see someone like Webber making this statement in this day (when I believe Vettel and he have reconciled their past differences and animosity).

    Yes, this has been a standard accusation levelled against Vettel, that he would win from pole, after breaking DRS. Yet, we’ve seen great fightbacks and racing from him. And just when you think that this is the new Vettel, he goes and does something like France 2018, or Singapore 2017, which just messes up any attempt to categorize him.

    Ditto for someone like Hamilton – the guy can draw on tremendous reserves of internal strength and pull off stunning qualifyings and races. But ever so often, something flips, and you end up with a sullen and moody Hamilton, who can give a stereotypical teenager a run for their money.

    It’s the same reason Stroll confuses me. For the most part, he seems to earn the criticism we love heaping on him. But then, I can’t shake that wet Monza qualifying session out of my head. In a Williams. Yes, even a broken clock is right twice a day, but to me, this just underscores the fact that one cannot typecast drivers, not when there are so many variables and factors at play.

    1. Oh, and a counter-example to Webber would be 2012 Brazil – that went to pieces for Vettel on the opening lap, but he held it together to win that championship. And I didn’t hear excessive molly-coddling from Rocky over the radio, either.

      1. 2012 Brazil is a counter-example for many stereotyped drivers. Alonso is a driver famous for barely making any mistake, specially when under pressure. Yet I remember that he outbraked himself at the end of the start/finish line no less than three times. Same for his utter domination over Massa, Alonso qualified behind him only three times in 2012, but two of those were the last two races. Does that mean that Alonso cracks under pressure? Gods, no.

        1. @warheart well, actually, i will make a point that Alonso kind of does and Vettel kind of does not.
          So, Alonso was in contention for a WDC at the final race 4 times- 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012. He won one of those 4 Titles. Vettel was in contention for a WDC at the final race in 2010 and 2012, clinching both these titles.
          Also, 2017 is arguably the first time Vettel had a WDC capable car without going away with a title. (2009 and 2017 are both a bit on the fence wether the car was on par with the competition me thinks).
          Alonso had WDC capable material in 2005, 06, 07, 10, 12 (i absolutely don’t buy into the f2012 was the worst car on the grid narrative tbh), winning two of these.
          Also also, Vettel was repatedly hampered by poor reliability and sometimes his own mistakes during his championship years, with his competitors inheriting points off him. Alonso in contrast hugely profited from his competitors unreliability in both 2005 and 06 inheriting 3 and 1 wins from his direct adversary respectively.

          TLDR i think FA is overrated

          1. @mrboerns

            So, Alonso was in contention for a WDC at the final race 4 times- 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012. He won one of those 4 Titles. Vettel was in contention for a WDC at the final race in 2010 and 2012, clinching both these titles.

            He was 4 points (40% of a race win) and 13 points (52% of a race win) behind in two of them, so you can’t put him losing those down to his inability to perform under pressure. And at least Alonso managed to bring it to the final race of the season. Vettel couldn’t even do that 2017, and having the best package every season from 2010-2013 should mean that winning the title should be the expectation. Anything lower is a disappointment (ask Webber or Rosberg). Also, how was the 2012 Ferrari WDC material? It wasn’t the worst car on the grid, but it sure as hell wasn’t close to being the best. Monza was the only weekend where it was actually capable of getting pole and winning on pure pace. It was far inferior to the RB8, as was the F10 compared to the RB6. Vettel should have run away with the title in 2010 (even with the reliability issues), but it was through his own mistakes that he went to the last race 15 points down.

          2. @mashiat and Vettel was crazy adrift in 2010 and was punted off at the start in 2012 so what is your point?

          3. @mashiat
            There you go forgetting about unreliability again. Alonso inherited 2 wins and more points from Red Bull’s unreliability in 2010, whereas Mercedes’ only mechanical failure in 2017 was Bottas when he was already well behind in Spain. No wonder Alonso could take it to the final round and not Vettel, when it was Vettel actually having the car break down in Malaysia and Japan. And don’t pretend Alonso didn’t throw away points with his own errors in 2010. Likewise, the F2012 had no mechanical DNFs for either driver, compared to 4 for RBR (handing FA another win in the process), and even more for Mclaren’s MP4-27. With reliability taken into account, it is unreasonable to describe Alonso’s cars as “far inferior”.

    2. @phylyp

      And just when you think that this is the new Vettel, he goes and does something like France 2018, or Singapore 2017, which just messes up any attempt to categorize him. Ditto for someone like Hamilton

      I think you agree with me that it’s very easy to categorize Vettel and Hamilton: great champions with a great skillset. Now we could argue forever about who is the best but the truth is that it’s awesome that we witness two F1-greats competing each other.

      Actually I totally agree with your comment. It’s impossible to categorize drivers. Based on Brazil 2016, Vettel could be catagorized as a mediocre driver in the wet, the way he was exposed by Verstappen. But that doesn’t do justice to the memory of him controlling a wet Monza in 2008 or running third in the pooring wet Japanese GP in 2007 or numerous other occasions where he was excellent in the wet.

      1. Bunch of great comments here @phylyp @matthijs

        Nice change from the biased bile that has escalated this season.

        1. I second that.

        2. Agreed RB13

      2. I think you agree with me that it’s very easy to categorize Vettel and Hamilton: great champions with a great skillset.

        @matthijs – Fully agree! On that same note, I can list who are – in my opinion – the top five or so drivers on the current grid. But ask me to start whittling that down to the top three or top one, and I can’t – they’re all just in that big pool of excellence.

    3. @phylyp

      you end up with a sullen and moody Hamilton

      The difference is though, that Hamilton draws extra strength from that like he did in Silverstone. Much like Schumacher or Senna would do when something went wrong (or felt wronged).

      While Vettel just ends up crashing into other cars (or if he misses, them spins off) in his red mist episodes.

      1. Erm what happened at Silverstone?
        He was ready to give up already.

  4. While Kubica’s episode was an 11/10 this one with Webber was disappointing.

  5. To be fair, Hamilton has his meltdowns regularly over team-radio.
    I guess it’s the passion which got them to the top in the first place, that simply boils over at times.

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      19th July 2018, 9:58

      And sadly for those Hamilton fans, I think Hamilton’s mood in Austria effected his performance. His defending is usually brilliant. But to me it seemed he was so focussed on complaining to the team that Vettel totally caught him out by surprise. If Hamilton had been as calm as he was when he’s leading the race, I don’t think he will have got overtaken like that.

      1. @thegianthogweed True I think, the team also seem more than aware of the drop in performance when Hamilton goes into what can only be described as ‘sulk mode’. I also think this is different from Vettel, who tends to react more positively in adverse circumstances. On other hand, Webber is right about Vettel messing things up near the front when the race changes, which Hamilton seems less prone to. Sometimes it’s red mist, a lot of the time, though, I think it’s not so much a meltdown as poor decision making, trying too much and outbraking himself, etc. Seems more like a concentration loss, whereas Vettel at his best is intensely focused with little to concentrate on aside from his own driving (qualifying runs, racing from the front etc.).

      2. Especially as he appeared to be on the radio as Vettel was overtaking him.

      3. @thegianthogweed The tyres overheated from actually trying to race with them. Just like Ricciardo found out.

        At best you could fault him for actually trying. Which in hind sight was a mistake, but hardly one that mattered.

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          19th July 2018, 23:15

          Yea, I don’t think he did much wrong that race. I just thought the level of complaining was a bit much. But that is just my view.

    2. At worst Hamilton complains on the radio, for vettel at worst he takes ot other drivers I don’t think the two compare

  6. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    19th July 2018, 9:22

    Meltdowns or not he still beat you, Webber. And everyone else to get four world titles.

    Really don’t see the point in stating the obvious that Vettel gets angry or frustrated when things don’t go to plan. Like what driver doesn’t? What person doesn’t? Hamilton’s whinges on the radio are very common and Alonso also cries on it too and they’re considered ‘the best’. In a sport like F1 where things can often be unpredictable surely it’s natural to be a bit human every once in a while? Surely it’s good for the viewer to see how raw victory and loss is for a driver? To be honest all three of them – Vettel, Hamilton & Alonso are prone to diva-like meltdowns when things don’t go their way, just as much as they’re prone to grabbing the bull by the horns so to speak and coming back from adversity in heroic fashion. I’d rather focus on when they did amazingly well than dwell on when they made huge errors. In fact can’t we have an article like that on here? Like a rundown of ‘champion’ drives from these guys?

  7. Webber is more thiny journalist than ex f1 driver.
    He knows nothing except being jealous on young world Champion, our hero Vettel.

    1. Steveetienne
      19th July 2018, 12:19

      The question I would pose to you is why do you consider a very privileged guy who drives a car fast to be a hero? Sure he is a top driver but hero? What has ever done that is to be considered heroic?

      1. Mr. Steeve, I would find myself hero if I had achieved 4 times f1 world champion titles at Seb’s age.
        But, I did not achieve it unfortunately….
        And, Michael Schumacher is and will always be hero for me since he is 7 times f1 world champion.
        Sebastian 4 titles gained at younger age than Michael an Michael is with 7 titels another hero.
        That is clear…. very clear ..

        1. Being good at your job doesnt make you a hero, just… good at your job

  8. Thank you Sherlock, we haven’t noticed any of these

    And since we want to spice up the show, was Hamilton brake testing already back in the day?

    1. was Hamilton brake testing already back in the day?

      @johnmilk – ha ha ha ha ha, so that’s the reason Vettel flew off the handle last year at Baku :-D. He was thinking “10 years later and this guy’s still clowning around in an SC car period”.

    2. I’m not personally a big fan of Vettel but for an ex-teammate to say the guy that beat him in every single championship has meltdowns under pressure and is only good at winning races from pole, sounds like sour grapes. And honestly that grudge is almost ten years old. Time to let go Webs.

  9. The Japanese Grand Prix safety car incident was in 2007. How old was Vettel then? 19? That wasn’t a meltdown, just plain immaturity which is understandable to some extent.

    1. plain immaturity which is understandable to some extent.

      If that’s the case then WEB doesn’t think it’s very understandable (and…what WEB said there was imho understandable – after all there is a minimum age for F1 drivers nowadays, albeit one that’s lower than Vettel’s was in 2007)

  10. I’ve had the same impression of Vettel. But he’s surprising me by how level-headed he’s been this season. And he’s had many incidents so far.

  11. Almost spiteful from Webber. I thought all that was water under the bridge and they’d kissed and made up.

  12. Webber always doing crappy starts… Talks about coping with the pressure

  13. Kubica’s episode was awesome, he sounded very honest and open about himself. While Webber just seemed to have an agenda, like he had practiced what he would say: just lick Alonso’s balls as much as possible, talk # about Vettel…

  14. Who doesn’t ?
    Michael S parked he’s car in the middle of the road at Monaco 2006.
    Prost and Senna crashed into each other more than once .
    Mansell crashes in Canada 1992 because of he’s own mistake and then goes to grab Ron Dennis by the shirt.
    Alonso with he’s GP2 engine .

    1. You have to be some kind of alien in order to not have meltdowns.

      1. You completely missed the point.

        1. Sure sure …

  15. I think these sorts of comments reflect more on the teller than on the subject. So Vettel gets angry from time to time, he’s human.

  16. @drycrust And that’s pretty much what SV said of it too. As he said, fans seem to want drivers to show emotion and not be corporate robots. He showed an emotion.

    The thing about calling it road rage though, I couldn’t quite buy into. It was track rage. Here’s what I mean. Here in Ontario we have stricter rules than ever for ‘street racing’ which is defined as doing 50kph over the speed limit on regular streets and highways. You get your car impounded for it and fines and license suspensions and what have you. Fair enough. A grandmother can be pulled over for ‘street racing.’

    Hand in hand with that we sometimes see police officers hanging out with tuner car clubs and what not, to try to get them to take their tuned up cars and their aggression to proper tracks so they don’t hurt innocent people on the streets.

    For me, if a driver is going to have ‘road rage’ it’s far better to have it on a track, and that’s what SV did. He blew a fuse. What better place to do it than on a track, in the highly charged atmosphere we want them to be in, in a car built far stronger than a domestic car. On top of that he was not doing it at speed. Those who called it road rage and claimed he’d do someone some serious harm one day, simply do not like SV, for those kinds of reactions were way over the top.

  17. I’m absolutely loving the new ‘Beyond The Grid’ podcasts, some really great in depth interviews so far!

  18. James Hunt without the crumpet :)

  19. Webber said high-profile errors by Vettel such as at Azerbaijan in 2017

    Did Webber really say that obviously intentional crash was actually an “error”?

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